University of the Philippines and Ayala Land held the ground-breaking ceremonies for the UP Town Center. The project will involve the construction of retail establishments with 63,000 square meters (sq. m.) of available gross leasable area (GLA) and a combination of headquarter and business process outsourcing (BPO) office-type building with an estimated 8,000 sq. m. of GLA, according to Ayala Land.

(Photos by El Bacani (UPSystem Information Office). Photos taken on June 18, at the ground-breaking ceremony of the UP Town Center at the former UPIS grounds, Katipunan Avenue, Quezon City.)

Ayala Land, which won the 25-year leasing contract following a bidding last November, said it targets to complete the P3-billion development late in 2013.

The UP Integrated School that hosts high schools student will be relocated in the main campus of UP Diliman. Under the agreement, Ayala Land will shoulder the development of the new UP high school.

Prof. Elvira Zamora, UP’s vice president for development said the current UP high school will remain untouched until the new buildings are completed. “Ayala will have to build the new school buildings first, and only then will UPIS students move to the new facilities,” Zamora said. “The school will move as one, not in phases when the new facilities are completely built.”

In 2006, Ayala Land allotted P6 billion for the development of the 38-hectare UP-Ayala Land Technohub along Commonwealth Ave. in Quezon City. The property now has retail establishments and houses various BPO firms.